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Cruithne
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I was recently handed a link by a friend after a discussion about wave-particle duality that seems to me to be incorrect in certain areas. This is the link: http://www.jracademy.com/~jtucek/science/exp.html
I'll have a quick go at dissecting parts of the page.
Well this seems basically true, however I understood that given a large enough sample of single photons the interference pattern would be indistinguishable from that produced by a continuous light source. It would be dimmer with a smaller sample of photons. However, the next statement seems to contradict this...
This seems to go against every other example of Young's experiment I've come across. What the author seems to be describing is the result of closing one of the slits. With both slits open an interference pattern will eventually appear over time...
I'm not sure why!
This just strikes me as wrong. The essential mystery of Young's experiment is that even when treating light as individual particles (photons) the light still produces behaviour that would imply it is acting as if it is a wave. This statement also seems to suggest that the interference patterns produced were not the result of any observations :shy: And then there's the fact that observing light's behaviour in other circumstances show it acting like a wave (e.g. diffraction and polarisation)
Could anyone clear up my confusion please?
(Hi btw :) I've been lurking for a while but hadn't signed up...)
I'll have a quick go at dissecting parts of the page.
If light were just a particle, and you were able to send just one photon through (Fig 1.3), then there would be no pattern on the screen, just a single point of light. However, it has been found that even if just one photon is sent through, it creates the same interference pattern, although dimmer
Well this seems basically true, however I understood that given a large enough sample of single photons the interference pattern would be indistinguishable from that produced by a continuous light source. It would be dimmer with a smaller sample of photons. However, the next statement seems to contradict this...
If the light is measured, or observed, in between the screen and the second barrier, no interference pattern is formed. Instead, there is the most intense light in between the two slits, which gets dimmer as it progresses away
This seems to go against every other example of Young's experiment I've come across. What the author seems to be describing is the result of closing one of the slits. With both slits open an interference pattern will eventually appear over time...
This phenomenon is one of the basic principles of quantum physics, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
I'm not sure why!
If light is not being observed, it acts as a wave, but if it is being observed, it has to behave itself and act like particles
This just strikes me as wrong. The essential mystery of Young's experiment is that even when treating light as individual particles (photons) the light still produces behaviour that would imply it is acting as if it is a wave. This statement also seems to suggest that the interference patterns produced were not the result of any observations :shy: And then there's the fact that observing light's behaviour in other circumstances show it acting like a wave (e.g. diffraction and polarisation)
Could anyone clear up my confusion please?
(Hi btw :) I've been lurking for a while but hadn't signed up...)
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